Old PC - new HTPC?

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MooPoo

251 posts

Ultimate Geek

#77224 12-Feb-2011 14:23

I have a couple of old desktops sitting around and would love to turn one into a HTPC that would be basically used for serving movies to our 42" LCD.

I have little knowledge of this stuff.

Is it as simple as just formatting the HDD and loading XP on it and setting it up near the TV with a VGA cable running between them and running a audio cable to the tv as well??

I don't have ethernet connections in the lounge room, but am thinking about getting one put in. Do I really need one when I can transfer the movies from my main PC to the HTPC via USB etc?

I have sky so i dont think I need to worry about any tv programming etc.

It is basically for showing divx movies I have umm made on my main computer.

Any advice please.

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258 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#438866 13-Feb-2011 15:30

you best bet is to install xp, get a video card with HDMI output, and install XBMC, if you are running divx movies, then a wireless network card would be fine. This would be a basic and easy setup, the HDMI will get your 1080p video and audio in one go!

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PANiCnz

936 posts

Ultimate Geek

#438955 13-Feb-2011 19:30

th3r3turn: you best bet is to install xp, get a video card with HDMI output, and install XBMC, if you are running divx movies, then a wireless network card would be fine. This would be a basic and easy setup, the HDMI will get your 1080p video and audio in one go!

XBMC on XP is not a good idea, does not support decoding of HD media on the GPU.

What are the specs of the old PC?

MooPoo

251 posts

Ultimate Geek

#438960 13-Feb-2011 19:48

PANiCnz: What are the specs of the old PC?

I was looking at an old dell gx270 with a 2.4GHz processor. Or maybe a P4 3GHz generic box.

nothing dual core or anything.

PANiCnz

936 posts

Ultimate Geek

#438982 13-Feb-2011 20:47

MooPoo:
PANiCnz: What are the specs of the old PC?

I was looking at an old dell gx270 with a 2.4GHz processor. Or maybe a P4 3GHz generic box.

nothing dual core or anything.

It struggle with anything HD, do either box have a PCIe slot?

If your happy with SD then I would throw XBMCLive on it, takes about 20minutes to install and will run out of the box. No need for Windows, or additional configuration.

XBMCLive also has a more appliance type feel

MooPoo

251 posts

Ultimate Geek

#438983 13-Feb-2011 20:52

PANiCnz: do either box have a PCIe slot?

Nope unfortunately

Handle9

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#438985 13-Feb-2011 21:10

Honestly don't bother.

Jailbreak and AppleTV2 and put xbmc on it. $169 and you've got an HD streamer with instant on, hdmi etc. It's a whole lot better idea than using old hardware that doesn't run all that well or quietly.

MooPoo

251 posts

Ultimate Geek

#439034 13-Feb-2011 22:38

Handle9: Jailbreak and AppleTV2 and put xbmc on it.

You do realise you are swearing at me?

Regs

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Snowflake

#439044 13-Feb-2011 23:34

my windows 7 pc is an old amd socket 939 with 1.5GB memory and it has a cheap, passive cooled, nvidia 8400GS card in it. it handles freeview-HD and HD home videos and h.264 fine. i've never tried blu-ray though. it used to run fibne on XP and Vista too.

if all you want is to show divx movies et al on the TV, then you could just go grab one of these cheap media players: http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=524848

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PANiCnz

936 posts

Ultimate Geek

#439234 14-Feb-2011 13:10

Your 8400gs offloads the hd decoding from the cpu very very few agp or pci cards can do this and cost nearly the same as an appletv.

Xbmc does not support gpu hd decoding in xp, otjwr software may

th3r3turn

258 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#439955 15-Feb-2011 18:58

PANiCnz:
th3r3turn: you best bet is to install xp, get a video card with HDMI output, and install XBMC, if you are running divx movies, then a wireless network card would be fine. This would be a basic and easy setup, the HDMI will get your 1080p video and audio in one go!

XBMC on XP is not a good idea, does not support decoding of HD media on the GPU.

What are the specs of the old PC?

ok then install windows7, turn off themes and anything else problem sloved!

Handle9

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#439958 15-Feb-2011 19:04

MooPoo:
Handle9: Jailbreak and AppleTV2 and put xbmc on it.

You do realise you are swearing at me?

Using an apple product or because it involves jailbreaking one of holy Steves gifts from the mountain?

D1023319

498 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#440132 16-Feb-2011 10:12

Do you have a Xbox?
If so - you dont need to spend anything as they are very good at streaming content from your master TV to the TV via Cat cabling.

reven

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#440169 16-Feb-2011 10:56

i would either
- get an ATV2 and jail break it
- install ubuntu and xbmc on the machine, playback performance on ubuntu was a lot better for me than windows when i was using a PC as my HTPC. and its free, and ubuntu is easy to install and use.

but if you're only going to be playing SD videos, go with whatever is easier for you, windows will work fine with xbmc.

kiwijunglist

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#440171 16-Feb-2011 10:59

you can't expect old pc to do new tricks (HD)

Best bet

Install XP + XBMC

or use the XBMC Linux boot up cd, that way you can try XBMC without even installing it onto the HDD

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

MooPoo

251 posts

Ultimate Geek

#440347 16-Feb-2011 17:28

I never said anything about HD.

All I want to do is to watch some divx movies I have on my tv.

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